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October 30, 2006

Dems Seeking Victory, Not Mandate

The Times explains that Democrats have recruited gun-wavin', Bible-thumpin' pro-lifers to run for Congress to help them pick up a majority. Hey, it may work and there is nothing wrong with winning. However, it will hardly be possible to interpret Democratic success as a mandate for their well-concealed agenda. From the Times:

ASHEVILLE, N.C., Oct. 28 — In their push to win back control of the House, Democrats
have turned to conservative and moderate candidates who fit the
profiles of their districts more closely than the profile of the
national party.

One such candidate, Heath Shuler, was courted by Republicans
to run for office in 2001. Mr. Shuler, 34, is a retired National
Football League quarterback who is running in the 11th Congressional
District in North Carolina. He is an evangelical Christian and holds fast to many conservative social views, like opposition to abortion rights.

“My guess is that if Democrats are in the majority, it’s going to
be because of these New Democrat, Blue Dog candidates out there winning
in these competitive swing districts,” Representative Ron Kind of
Wisconsin, co-chairman of a caucus of centrist House Democrats, said in
an interview.

Let's pause right here - of course the centrist Dems will claim that Democratic success is due to the efforts of the centrist Dems. If there is a Dem victory it will have a thousand fathers. However, just because the claim is inevitable does not mean it is false - the ongoing non-success of Nutroots darling Ned Lamont in Blue Connecticut certainly suggests that the power or the progressives is less than they might have thought.

More from the Times:

But if candidates like Mr. Shuler do help the Democrats gain
majority control of Congress, it could come at a political price, which
may include tensions in the party between its new centrists and its
more liberal political base.

While Democratic leaders have gone to great lengths to promote the
views of these candidates, some, like Mr. Shuler, have views on issues
like gun control and abortion that are far out of step with the
prevailing views of the Democrats who control the party. On some
issues, they may even be expected to side with Republicans and the Bush
White House.

Democratic officials said they did not set out with the intention of
finding moderates to run. Instead, as they searched for candidates with
the greatest possibility of winning against Republicans, they said,
they wound up with a number who reflected more moderate views.

That was especially true in suburban areas and some rural districts,
said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “As a group, they are
moderate in temperament and reformers in spirit,” Mr. Emanuel said.

In Indiana, for example, Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat running to
unseat Representative John Hostettler, brags about the “A” rating he
has received from the National Rifle Association.
In Kentucky, Mike Weaver, a Democrat who opposes abortion rights, is
running against Representative Ron Lewis, a Republican. Gabrielle
Giffords, a Democrat running for an open House seat in Arizona, is
presenting herself as a fiscal conservative, saying she would oppose
Congressional pay increases until the federal budget is balanced.

Whatever. Over in the Senate, Dem candidate Bob Casey Jr. is also pro-life (ostensibly). Apparently, the Dems are committed to a woman's right to choose only until that commitment prompts people to choose Republicans.

Folks who still haven't decided which party to support this fall may want to consider this -which party will engage in the more entertaining and spectacular post-defeat recriminations?

Defeated Republicans would surely engage in a bit of finger-pointing but they will remain the pro-life party of lower taxes and a strong defense. The key lessons they would take from an electoral defeat would be (a) don't start a war without a plan to finish it, and (b) don't nominate George Bush in 2008.

But if the Democrats lose, they will make a defeated George Steinbrenner look like a paragon of patience and restraint. In fact, the Dems are so eager to blame other factions of their party that the circular firing squad has already begun to assemble - Netroots guru Matt Stoller, embittered by the lack of support offered to Ned Lamont by Democratic Senate bigwigs, tells us that "it's very clear that the Democratic Party leadership is rotten to the core".

The netroots and the progressive movement have as much of an ownership
claim to the Democratic Party as anyone else. We follow the rules, and
we have provided an absolutely enormous amount of support to the party.
As we work to move into the infrastructure of the party, LieberDems and
"New Dems" alike do everything they can to distance themselves from
they party. ...it is in fact the Lieberman-Tauscher-DLC types view the party, its
rules, and its members as a convenience to be easily tossed aside when
they interfere with a personal path to power. This is our party as much
as it is theirs. Hell, by now it is more our party than it is theirs.
Lieberman and his supporters have become the new Naderites in our
midst.

That alone means it will be our victory more than it will be theirs.
Any Democrat who works to distance himself or herself from the
Democratic Party cannot claim responsibility for a Democratic Party
victory.

The party, it is me! Centrist Dem candidates like Heath Shuler (described in the Times article) may wonder just what debt they owe the foaming Netroots. Oh well - per the Times, that may be a purge for another day:

“I don’t think people like Shuler will be the core of the Democratic Party,” said Mark Bloom, a writer who is a volunteer for MoveOn.org,
the liberal advocacy group, at its storefront office in downtown
Asheville. “If people like Shuler turn out to not be progressive enough
for my tastes, I’ll work to replace him.”

This should be a show.

MORE: Why do they hate America? The Times finds the Dems that the Dems would prefer not be found:

When she travels abroad, said Mary Nassif, a school psychologist, “I
may not take pride in being American, but I love saying I’m from
Seattle.”

Classic. Elsewhere in the same article is the "China First" viewpoint, as articulated by a mother who has adopted two Chinese babies:

Ms. Peterson has adopted two daughters from China and is working on
a third. As Gwen, her eldest, considered whether biting into an apple
would dislodge her dangling front teeth, Ms. Peterson acknowledged that
her fixation [with budget deficits] was personal.

China gains “so much power and control by carrying so much of our
debt,” said Ms. Peterson, who described herself as a Democrat who often
crosses party lines. If the United States one day resists repayment,
she said, her girls will “never have an ability to have a relationship
with their country.”

Clue - their country is the United States. Oh, well, we know what she means. We just wish we could get her on camera explaining that she is voting Democratic because that is better for China. That would put the "bites" in sound bite, all right.

Democratic officials said they did not set out with the intention of finding moderates to run. Instead, as they searched for candidates with the greatest possibility of winning against Republicans, they said, they wound up with a number who reflected more moderate views.

Gee, kinda makes you wonder if all those "wingnuts" who decry the national party as far lefties had a point after all.

"Clue - their country is the United States. Oh, well, we know what she means. We just wish we could get her on camera explaining that she is voting Democratic because that is better for China. That would put the "bites" in sound bite, all right."

Since we are a debtor nation owing China a TRILLION dollars,
it would seem that the
term "our country" is quickly becoming trumped by the reality that America
is not far from being 'THEIR country"

OT -- 2008 -- Boston Herald touting dream ticket of Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush. I intend to vote for Romney (yes he will get the nomination and win by a landslide) and I don't really care who is 2nd on the ticket. Jeb is okay with me, although I'm not sure the country is in the mood for another Bush. Two years is a long time though. For those who want their eye candy, this really is a dream ticket of two tall good looking guys.

MoveOn.org, Larry Johson's TPM Muckraker, all 500 things that came out after Plame and the investigation in congress(not that they were being monitiored by NSA and that's what Plame got mad about). All started by retired CIA operations officers that came out around Plame.

Shadowy front groups, non profits, attacking dems? Maybe they should send another Plame to destroy national security and the whovever runs the US at the time. Atrios/Eschaton and Hamm or is that Hale attacking foreign countries and begging for coups when we already have them planned. Maybe they should just kiss retired CIA agents asses like KOS, Plame, Wilson, Clooney(dinner at KOS) and the others.

47 New Democrats in congress now. And over half of the tightly contested races being run by Democrats who have pledged to join this group. And Nancy get according to a lot of sources at best about a three seat margin. Man the cat fights are going to be intertaining. While I think Republicans will nominally retain the majority in the House, a part of me wants to see the spectacle of hung votes for Speaker of the House ( like the UN security council votes ). And seeing Democrat Party fissures exposed on a daily basis would be almost worth it.

As I have been saying a 4 seat majority is not managable in this big of a body.

OT:
"WASHINGTON - Without ever mentioning him by name, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, in a court filing Monday, argues that a jury in the CIA/Leak trial should not consider evidence concerning why he did not charge former State Department official Richard Armitage with leaking Valerie Plame's name to reporters. It is a crime to intentionally disclose the name of a classified CIA operative.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former top aide to Vice President Cheney, is the only one charged in the CIA/Leak case. Libby is accused of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about his conversations in 2003 with three reporters regarding how he learned of and what he told them about CIA operative Valerie Plame - but not with leaking the agent's name.

Fitzgerald writes, "The fact that no other person was charged with a crime relating to the disclosure of classified information says absolutely nothing about whether defendant Libby is guilty of the charged crimes."

This is just crazy! Any real Christian Conservative would be laughing his/her head off at this type of idiocy. What do the Democrats think we are anyway...well, according to them, idiots! Actually, they will be again surprised at the vote...

My only fear is if these Blue Dog dems get in Congress they will go the way of Senator Salazar of Colorado and talk one way before the election and then change course after they gain office. Salazar , I believe voted against the confirmation of Alito after saying the president's judicial nominees deserve an up or down vote.

Second, today sheriffs and Forest Service Investigators "swooped" down on a home about 1/4 mile from where fire was started and are still questioning 2 men and a woman arson suspects. Witnesses say they are skin heads and neighborhood trouble makers. Fingerprints were taken and boxes of evidence seen being carried out. Developing story.

There is no reason to assume ANY Democrat running on conservative values is telling the truth. Remember, Al Gore his own self first entered Congress as a God, Guns 'n' Guts Democrat. Got over it real quick... and so will most of these if Mafiosi Pelosi controls the pig trough...

clarice:
Fitz is obsessed with this nothingburger case and is going to hang in there until the last dog is shot. He excuses the true leaker -Armitage and is frustrated that he didn't land any big players in the WH. What a loser!

I hate to date myself even more but it reminds me a lot of '72. McGovernites really did think they had changed the party and would change the world. And when failure came, they sort of faded into the woodwork.

If the left moves right after this election,I suspect Kos will lose his franchise, and if we are all lucky George Soros will return to bankrupting Europe.

Dems winning a Congressional majority isn't going to be because of centrist Democrats, it's going to be to neutralize the Cheney effect on the government. How long before the missing daughter says something on MTV about inferior skin color? That'd sure complete the trifecta.

If it's true we have spent $300+billion on Iraq how about we give it to China and call it even?

Closer to the original topic, I have a theory that Mark Warner dropped out of the President's race because after spending a weekend in Las Vegas with the netroots he realized nothing on Earth was worth 2 years courting them and campaigning with them, plus another 4-8 years of it if he won.

Is it possible for something to be unfair, mean-spirited and nonetheless still remain too likely not to be true?

We just wish we could get her on camera explaining that she is voting Democratic because that is better for China

TM, I suggest you reread that section of the article when you're in a less cranky mood.

She says:

“It makes me insane to know that we had this huge budget surplus, and yet we’ve run up such debt in a six-year period.”

and then says:

China gains “so much power and control by carrying so much of our debt,”

So she's angry that we've been running up debt, and she says China gains power and control by carrying so much of our debt. Would it not be reasonable to conclude that she would have preferred us not to run up so much debt and hence she would have preferred us not to allow China to gain so much power and control by loaning so much to us?

I do not see how you can possibly read those pair of quotes as putting China first.

I guess I can see how an irritable Republican itching for something to gripe about might read the final quote- about the possibility of the U.S. not repaying our debt and her girls not having a relationship with their country- as somehow being "China first", but even that doesn't really make sense. Maybe it would make sense if she thought that defaulting on our debt would be just swell for America and bad only for China, but I can't believe you really think that's what she thinks. Obviously, it would be bad for us as well as for China.

All she implies is that a default would be damaging to the relationship between the 2 countries. I guess a real patriot wouldn't care about our relationship with China or about the possibility of the US government defaulting on its debt (which is not to say that's particularly likely any time soon, but we're not evaluating her on her finance acumen).

Clinton loved China and China loved Clinton. They even gave him money and he gave them secrets. Now all of a sudden the left wakes up with a start and notices China is there and its BIG. jeez.

I live in Indiana and have seen some of Ellswoth's ads. He is running away from Pelosi, away from the left and lets us know all day every day that he supports the war on Terror, will not cut and run from Iraq, does not support abortion on demand, does not believe in amnesty for illegals and thinks any American who wants an arsenal in his basement has the right to bear arms by God.

If they did not put that paid for the Democrats thingee on the end the locals would think he was a Republican.

What happens if and when he wins? Will he keep his word to the people of Indiana or will he vote with Nancy Pelosi, a woman he refuses to even claim any manner shape or form?

Yeah, we'll need all those new embryo-citizens to go die in Iraq 18 years from now to keep us safe, besides, the country will have gone broke by then anyway (war spending, and bridges to nowhere, all the while cutting taxes).

A lot of wisful thinking here, hoping the left will be pulled right by these 'New Democrats'. The Left isn't going anywhere, and will work hard to undermine newly elected officials who don't toe the line. They'll cave under the pressure, not having been around long enough to do what Lieberman did. The electorate will not be happy with the stances (and the extraordinary waffling) their new reps will be obliged to undertake.

Regarding Libby's motive. Fitz has already speculated about motive and introduced his own theories. Specifically, he has mentioned in his memoranda of law that Libby may have been motivated to lie to save his job and to shield the WH from shame.

In all fairness, Libby gets to present counter theories as to motive. I sure hope Fitz loses this in limine motion.

All she implies is that a default would be damaging to the relationship between the 2 countries.

Did you miss the part about: “never have an ability to have a relationship with their country”? Or that "their country" obviously referred to China? Because it seemed to me that (combined with the previous woman who was proud of Seattle but not the US) was Tom's point.

The Left isn't going anywhere, and will work hard to undermine newly elected officials who don't toe the line.

Perhaps. But it seems to me the most likely election result (GOP holds narrow majority in Senate, Dems gain narrow majority in house) is a recipe for gridlock. And any group of disaffected Dem Reps (or GOP Senators) larger than the margin of control holds veto power for any partisan proposal. If the margin is thin enough, that might be just a couple mavericks in either chamber. Add in the promised congressional investigations, and the dynamic will resemble the UN Security Council, at least for capacity to get anything done. (Which would be a lot more of a concern if they'd been more active in the last congress.)

Ah I love to listen to liberals talk about the foreign debt, and especially ours with China. They are more to blame than anyone for the exodus of jobs from the US, and the increase of imported products from China. Over the past 30+ years, the unions, along with social programs like Workers Comp, have caused more American manufacturers to close down or move off shore. And now they are bragging about wanting to raise the minimum wage - again, as well as mandate that companies offer fully funded Health Care...

And don't forget if it were all that bad, why is China still buying our bonds, for a mere 5% return, whereby American firms who've invested in China are getting 12% on average.... I guess China must think it's a good deal too!

Thanks, Cecil.
Chants, it seems to me that Libby has a number of defenses but the strongest would be that he did not leak to Novak, had no knowledge of Plame's status in the agency,that she apparently and therefore had nothing to hide and did not deliberately hide anything.

Dems like Ellsworth are like a fox in sheep's clothing. The real question is will he vote for Pelosi as speaker? I would absolutely love it if she didn't have enough votes.
I must say at this late date I am still holding out hope for DeWine in Ohio. Brown does not represent Ohioan views. He's way too liberal. Unfortunately Blackwell has to pay for trying to do his job correctly as secretary of state. I refuse to pay more taxes if Strickland wins.

********Thanks, Cecil.
Chants, it seems to me that Libby has a number of defenses but the strongest would be that he did not leak to Novak, had no knowledge of Plame's status in the agency,that she apparently was not covert and therefore hehad nothing to hide and did not deliberately hide anything.

Good read clarice...hit 'em again. Especially liked that you put Colin Powell into that picture. When you look back at Powell/Armitage playhouse....it points right at Powell and this is who Fitz has fought so hard to cover. Fitz deserves thumbscrews.

President Bush, please give the Dems/MSM a surprise......pardon Libbey on Nov 6, 2006.

Sue...I have a feeling that the republicans are going to maintain the majority in both houses, that the MSM and pollsters know it, have skewed the polling in order to set up another stolen election.

It sure fits the pattern that emerged. They talked about the 'machines' until 'Diebold' became a brand name. The MSM has since written it hundreds of times to give it all legs (media Plame created Bush Lied). After their Culture of Corruption, this is the one they have worked the hardest. It's their backup insurance plan...Diebold/polls.

I think they got a surprise when Drudge headlined the Chavez connection to 'machines'. Sure do not think this is an accident and someone else is watching their patterns. LOL

For 3 elections, they have been able to keep the stolen election talking point at the forefront, making anything Bush does appear illegitimate. It also keeps their base stirred up and provides them with a reason why they continue to lose. It couldn't be their policies, they are so main stream America.

Remember Mutally Assured Destruction? It still exists. It's not nuclear weapons though, it's econimcs. Industrialized nations are engaged in mutually assured economic destruction with China. If one side walks away from the table, it's likely that both will suffer destructive fates.

It's not like the Democrats need a China bogeyman. Medicare and Social Security are a much larger threat than China. The two combine create one massive bomb waiting to explode. It doesn't need to be smuggled into the United States. It was installed by Democrats. It's protected by Democrats. It's going to blow up, eventually.

Some say the AARP is a greater threat to the United States than Al Qaida. :)

Thanks, Owl..Dr. Sanity has a great blog on this today--about the repeated media meme that the Dems are going to win and the subtext that if they don't it's because (once again) the election was stolen. She says its because they think they are smarter than the voters, deserve to win, and therefore all cheating is virtuous--despite what this does to the nation.

They can blame the machines all they want but we all know that the dem's utter bankruptcy of ideas is what hobbles them at the polls. According to Fox News 22,000 dead people are still on the voter rolls in New York State. How is this possible? I'm sure there are felons who are still registered and no scrubbing of their names has been done. People don't care about a fair election. Just ask Rossi of Washington State how the dems screwed him over in the governor race.

As for any of the potentially newly elected more conservative Democrats changing under pressure to support their lefty leaders, that would be a recipe for defeat 2 years later. Most of these guys/gals are running in Republican districts and only could (but won't) win because of conservative disaffection with the Republicans right now. If they move left they are goners next election, even with an incumbency advantage. Now, in the Senate, it is more of a problem since they stay 6 years. How do we keep these leftys like McCaskill, Tester, and Brown out of there? Casey would blow in the wind (what a total zero), Webb would shock the Democrats into wondering what they could have been thinking with him (guns, misogyny, Buchananite philosophy), Ford who knows what he would do (always has struck me as a slick phony), Whitehouse for Chaffee is pretty much a wash. Come on Republicans!! Don't let any of this happen. We hold the cards here. If we vote, they cannot win. That is the math.

Isn't it somewhat sickening to think that Dems even have a shadow of a chance in this election, considering their shallow, transparent and seditious behavior these past few years? Talk about fiddling while something burns.

I don't get the Casey/Santorum contest. There is no contest. Casey will not debate him. Casey will not state a clear position. Casey has managed to keep the lead because he has refused to define himself. This is the race that has me scratching my head. Are republicans so insane in PA they will put a democrat in office to punish Santorum for supporting Specter? Is that what this is all about?

Most chinese do not have access to western healthcare, with no plans to change things on the horizon. In other words, the old folks don't get expensive drugs, or costly surgery, followed by a couple of weeks in an ICU like so many in this country do. They have to settle for acupuncture and a few herbs. So that's one huge cost to the GNP that they do not worry about.

With all the privatization going on though, esp. with housing, it will be interesting to see what happens to all the old folks who have to depend on one child.

Also, who are all the "little emperors" going to marry? The male/female ratio is already disturbing thanks to sex selection abortions and female infanticide.

Even so, women are still treated like second class citizens in China. Wonder if that's going to change as marrigable women become a scarce resource?

And then there is the utter absence of workmans comp and virtually no industrial health and safety measures and talk about polluting resources...China has some substantial problems looming which they still are not addressing.

________

Some good news on the election front:
"Sources tell Peach Pundit that the Republicans have moved Georgia's 12th Congressional District into the "leans Republican" category and the 8th Congressional District into the toss up category from "Leans Democrat." The GOP fully expects that once the President leaves Perry, GA today, they'll be able to put the 8th in the "Leans Republican" category too."

Sue;
I am also flummoxed by this Pennsylvania race. They managed to keep the dem Green candidate off the ballot to help Casey. NOW and other fem groups are holding their nose and voting for Casey. I can't believe Casey has much mojo in Harrisburg or Amish country. Too bad...I like Santorum. Maybe President Bush can find a high profile position where he can boss some Senators around. Also has Specter campaigned much for Santorum?

It truly is and so is the pass that I see many bloggers giving this guy. NO, I am not prepared to applaud 'his honesty' just because he acknowledges media bias. So what else is new except they see the downward spiral of the NYT, WaPo and MSNBC?

Is there a person alive that does not believe that ABC/Ross had seen the IMs when they just all of a sudden, decided to publish the emails? ABC makes me cuss each morning because that is what I get with my local news.

Is this not the same Halperin that brought us the ABC 2004 presidential debate memo?????

It's the TV that is driving the vote and delivering Dems to the masses. The NYT only starts the ball. The TV is never given their due because many seem to believe that only the 'readers' vote. Campaign ads are pennies to millions compared to Dem free TV.

Yep...unfreakinbelievable. Show me. Until then I will file this with the NYTs apologizing for not questioning the war enough. Sure. Their way of starting their 'you fooled us with your lies and we are sorry' so this is why we will bash the war AND soldiers, each and every day. Poor mislead babies.

Sue: It's because Bob Casey's name is Bob Casey and he's running in Pennsylvania. The state's voters just love anyone with the name Bob Casey. They've elected something like 10 Bob Caseys to various seats in Pennsylvania. Apparently, one Bob Casey ran for a seat, raised no money, did no campaigning, and didn't even want to win the election. He ran anyway and the name "Bob Casey" was on the ballot. He won in a landslide.

1. Reading the comments of some lefties here just makes me feel tired and bored. It's 2006 already. Get a new schtick will you?

2. So what if we owe China $1 trillion? The Chinese government owes it's citizens well over $2 trillion dollars looted from the national banking system.

3. The reason why the Chinese buy so much American debt is to prop up the dollar. Why? Because that powers American purchasing of Chinese products. Why is this important to the Chinese, particularly when it looks like the Chinese are giving us money to buy their crap?

Jobs.

The Chinese expect their government to provide them with job opportunities. With jobs available people have income, are happier and will generally put 50%+ of their annual income into their savings accounts (at the banks being slowly looted dry by the Chinese government). Additionally it's the promise of jobs that's driving the massive increase in higher education that will result in China producing enough educated engineers to potentially create a high tech industrial base.

etc etc etc.

So here's the deal. The Chinese buy our debt to help fund the creation of jobs inside China. This aids in stabilizing the Chinese economy and, by extension, their politics and society. If the Chinese stop buying American debt then Americans will generally stop buying Chinese products. This will result in a drop in economic growth, which in turn will result in either low job creation or negative job creation.

i.e. The Chinese are buying American debt because they almost have to.

Right Owl. Mark Halperin is suffering from the same delusion that most of the elite have. The idea that he can somehow be free from Bias--and that we'll believe him just because he says so.

His father was not just "left", he was rabidly far left, and now works for George Soros "open Society." One of Mort Halperin's best buddies was Phillip Agee for goodness sake!

Mark went tho Harvard. He lives in a place where 90% are liberal democrats. He workes in an industry where 90% are liberal democrats. Yet HE is not a liberal democrat, and is going to "save the day" and show how special he is by having an intern from Bob Jones University! WOW! I'm impressed by his overwhelming generousity! (NOT)

Well, Halperin can pat himself on the back all he likes. Ross and ABC played a key role in the Foley scandal--all the evidence points to it. And Halperin completely avoided the question--alluding to some BS like "anonymous sources."

He went on and on about how aweful Mary Mapes and Dan Rather were in Rathergate. Well, hate to tell ya sweetie, but you and Brian Ross are no better. Nothing by liars and democrat shills as far as I'm concerned.

The GOP fully expects that once the President leaves Perry, GA today, they'll be able to put the 8th in the "Leans Republican" category too."

I am sure this is because Bush was down there fiddling with the Diebold voting machines. All of them in the two districts. The fix is in. Despite Bush having carried these two districts 2-1, the fix is in.

Man when the goose fails to lay the golden egg, the moonbats are going to be baying for pate. In a big way. Mark it down.

If anyone can provide a link to the Fitzgerald's motion, I'd appreciate it.

I'll be eagar to see Libby's reply. Perhaps they can propose as an alternative to denying the motion that Walton simply prevent either side from implying that revealing Plame's CIA affiliation might have been a crime.

I hope Libby's team files a motion in limine to prevent Fitzgerald from stating or implying there was anything improper about about Libby's disclosure of information from the NIE to Miller.

This will result in a drop in economic growth, which in turn will result in either low job creation or negative job creation.

Pretty good Ed, but I have to add:

Loss of jobs in China means shrinkage of the new middle class, further exacerbating the collapse of manufacturing.

All those out of work Chinee will have ample opportunity to reflect on the whole democracy/capitalism thing they toyed with in the late 1980s, and further, to speculate on how much better their economy would operate if it weren't run by a corrupt government mafia.

Did you miss the part about: “never have an ability to have a relationship with their country”? Or that "their country" obviously referred to China? Because it seemed to me that (combined with the previous woman who was proud of Seattle but not the US) was Tom's point.

One of Tom's explicit points was that the woman with the adopted kids was putting China first. If she believes China gains power and control by holding so much of our debt, and she's basing her vote on a belief that with Democrats in control we will run up less debt and hence give China less power and control, that's a strange way to put China first.